Southern-Style Strawberry Cake

Three layers of moist strawberry cake are slathered with delicious vanilla cream cheese frosting and topped with pink coconut and fresh strawberries. Yowzers!

I needed a dessert to take to a 'girls night in' and found this beautiful cake on joythebaker.com. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make it! Who cares if strawberries aren't in season and are hard to find at the grocery stores here? Not me. I wanted to make it anyway. The lovely and bright pink hue of this cake comes from a white cake mix and strawberry jello. Yes, this uses a cake mix. But, with the right add-ins you can't tell it's from a box and it has a wonderful strawberry flavor.

This cake was fun to make and assemble. I haven't made a layer cake in a while, so I had a good time in the kitchen putting this together.

Three layers of strawberry cake get filled with fluffy vanilla frosting. I added sliced strawberries in between each layer for a more pronounced strawberry flavor. I would recommend doing this to balance out some of the sweetness.

Layer #2

And more strawberries.

A glorious mound of frosting to coat the top and sides of the cake. Yum!

Coconut is tinted pink and sprinkled on top. This cake is bursting with pink! For a more neutral cake, leave the coconut white.

Fresh slices of strawberries are the finishing touch.

Here it is! I thought this cake turned out so beautiful.

This cake was really moist and bursting with strawberry flavor! The frosting was really tasty, but also really sweet. Maybe a tad less next time? The fresh strawberries, sweet coconut and vanilla frosting were a delicious combination of flavors. All the ladies at 'Girls Night' loved this cake and I will definitely put this recipe in my files and make it again!

Slice - Dig in - Enjoy

Inspired by: Joythebaker

Original Source: Patty Pinner, Sweets

Southern-Style Strawberry Cake

1 (18.5 ounce) box white cake mix (without pudding)*

1 (3 ounce) package strawberry jello

1 Tablespoon self rising flour

4 teaspoons granulated sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup fresh strawberries, finely diced.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the cake, combine to cake mix, Jello, flour and sugar in a large bowl.  Mix well.  Add the oil.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition  Add the water and strawberries and mix well.  Divide the batter evenly into three 8-inch round baking pans that have been oiled and floured.  Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean and the layers pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer the layers from the oven to wire racks.  Let them cool, still in their pans, for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, run a knife around the inside edge of each pan, then unmold each layer onto the racks to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 ounce) block cream cheese, softened

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened

2 (1 pound) boxes powdered sugar

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

pink food coloring

4 sliced strawberries

To make the frosting, in a bowl combine the cream cheese and butter.  Beat until soft and pliable and no lumps remain.  Add one box of the powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract.  Beat until incorporated.  Add the second box of sugar and mix until incorporated.  If you would like a smoother consistency, and a slash of milk.  If you would like a thicker consistency, and a bit more powdered sugar until the desired consistency is achieved.

Put the coconut in a small bowl and sprinkle with two or three drops of pink die.  Mix with hands to distribute the color and wash hands immediately.  Once the cake is frosted, decorate the top of the cake with the shredded coconut and sliced strawberries.  

* I could only find cake mix with pudding in it, and it turned out fine.